Lanciano Sotterranea

Lanciano's underground archaeological remains preserve traces of ancient Anxanum and of later churches built above the Roman city.

Why it matters

The subterranean layers reveal how successive communities reused the same urban ground. Remains beneath the cathedral and San Francesco connect Roman infrastructure with the city's later religious history.

What to notice

The underground complex includes masonry associated with the Roman bridge beneath the cathedral of the Madonna del Ponte, as well as remains linked to the early sanctuary of the Eucharistic Miracle near San Francesco. Cisterns, drainage works and reused walls show how the settlement adapted to its sloping terrain.

Context and history

Anxanum, the Roman settlement of the Frentani, occupied the same hills later used by Lanciano's medieval quarters. Archaeological campaigns from the early 1990s expanded knowledge of the buried city, and finds from these investigations are represented in the local archaeological museum.